Overview #2 by Blake
Mom's brother Tim, sister-in-law
Sue, Jody, and I join her in song (photo: Spivey).
There are more horses than dolphins in
Central Florida. They make good substitutes (photo: Jody).
Mom enjoying company of great-nephew and vice versa.
Right before the last update, Mom finished with the twice-daily radiation treatments, which was a great relief. A dear friend and spiritual advisor came down from Maine for a few days. The day after she left, Mom's sister Sherry arrived (see her update), and on February 23, she accompanied Mom to the Jacksonville airport to Mom's trip to California.
Dad joined Mom in California three days later, and they felt very strongly that the trip was valuable and helpful (Mom describes the experience in more detail in her March 23 update, and Dad plans to say some more about it in an upcoming message). They returned to Florida on March 6, arriving the same day as Jody.
We had been planning some kitchen renovations before any of this came up, and Mom has been insistent that we go through with them. So Dad decided we should have them happen while Mom was away, and he gave the contractors strong encouragement to accelerate their pace. I think Dad wants to write about how that turned out, so I'll leave you in some suspense there. But in Mom and Dad's absence, I was left to supervise that job. And during that time, Meredith, my girlfriend of three and a half years, came to visit from Guatemala (some of you may detect that I'm trying to give excuses for not posting any updates during that stretch :]).
Since their return, numerous relatives from out of town have come: brother, sister-in-law, sister, nephews, nieces, great-nephews and great-nieces. Jody's husband, Jeff, came for a week. In the coming weeks, we may have visits from Dad's brother and sister-in-law, and some nieces on his side. Mom is also thinking about trips she wants to make; from April to June, she may travel to New Mexico, Texas, New York/New England, Seattle, and another dolphin-swimming trip around Florida.
Medically, since further radiation and radiosurgery have been ruled out, Mom and Dad have decided to work with an oncologist outside of the radiation department. He has mentioned chemotherapy as a possible route, but we are going to wait for another MRI in the coming weeks before making any decisions.
Mom says that she feels stronger and stronger, she is sleeping less and feeling less fatigue. She incorporates others' praying energy into her visualization, and we have recently heard of some interesting studies about the effect prayer and healing energy can have (Dad promises to elaborate in his next message). Keep 'em coming!
So we're keeping busy, and it looks like we'll continue to be busy and doing things we want to do. Thanks to everyone for all the support!